Galibore and Kanakapura Road

December 17, 2007

Let me start with a nice picture of a RIVER TERN on the Kaveri…

We took our huntin’ friend to Galibore to check out the angling, rather than take him to Bheemeshwari. We hadn’t seen the JLR property there, and the last few kilometers would be through the scrub jungle of the Kaveri valley. Unfortunately, I don’t think, overall, he was very happy with the trip. He is petrified of eating anything outside, having been warned by eveeryone…and definitely not open to new experiences the way some of our other American visitors have been. He really starved through the day!

I think it’s a basic difference between tourists and business visitors; the first lot are here by choice, so they are willing to experiment with food and travel. But the business visitors are here for work, and they may not be keen on new experiences.

But KM and I managed to have a really lovely day. The Kanakapura Road is still really picturesque, and the Kaveri valley very beautiful….

At the Galibore property of JLR, where we met Lokesh, whom I had met earlier at the Bird Census at BR Hills. KM and our American friend relaxed under the shade of the huge trees at the riverbank, and I wandered around the property with the S3 and the 20D...here are some of the things I got:
A PADDYFIELD PIPIT
Two un-id but common BUTTERFLIES, I would like someone to give me the id, so I can put them in...
update: Thank you, Madhu! this one's an EMIGRANT....
and
This one's a BLUE TIGER (why blue? search me!)
A pretty (un id of course) fruit, which looked like little balloons blown up:
Update, Madhu says:
The balloon like fruits are from the balloon vine (ofcourse!! :)
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/vines/cardiospermum_halicacabum.html
Some lovely WILDFLOWERS:
On the Kanakapura Road, these SILKWORM PUPAE which are being dried in the sun prior to having the silk spun from them....
The frames themselves are beautifully made from palm fronds and bamboo.
And here are two negative things from yesterday.
On the way, at Harohalli village, we saw a crowd gathered, beating out this snake, which I think is a RAT SNAKE, but I am not sure...
I think they had already beaten the creature, because it was not moving.
I went and asked the people to stop beating the snake and tried to tell them that it would probably eat their rats. "No", they chorused, "it might be poisonous." Since I was not sure about its being a rat snake, I could not talk any further, and rushed back to the car to find at least a plastic bag that I could take it away in, and release it a little further. But as I came back with my plastic bag, a villager beat the snake dead... my rescue effort was in vain. I am still feeling pretty bad about this.
The other negative thing is to do with that old enemy, plastic...
The JLR property is generally plastic-free, but I did see this piece of trash at the river's edge, with a river tern hovering over it, as if to ask, "Why is this awful thing here?"

A mostly enjoyable day, with the exception of the snake, and the way we felt when we tried to go to Koodala Sangama, and were repulsed by the crowds and the amount of trash strewn everywhere…